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Benni in blast at Keane

By Mark Kendall

Porto's two-goal hero Benni McCarthy has taunted Roy Keane by insisting his rash red card has opened the door for Porto to progress at Manchester United's expense.

The United skipper saw red in his side's 2-1 UEFA Champions League defeat in Portugal on Wednesday and will now miss the second leg at Old Trafford next month.

McCarthy insists it was right for Keane to be dismissed after he appeared to stand on Porto keeper Vitor Baia, and the South African believes the Premiership giants will sorely miss their influential skipper.

"But it is good for us - because United have now lost their most influential player.

"With him gone, there are no other players that talk as much as him, that drive the team to want to do their best.

"So I think for us now we have got something extra-positive on our side."

The 26-year-old hit-man also revealed how Porto grew in confidence throughout Wednesday's game after sensing that United were not the force that they had been expecting, highlighting the absences of Rio Ferdinand and Mikael Sivestre as a major factor.

"There was a feeling that maybe Manchester were not all that good in this game, so we just created chances," he continued.

"We just remained calm, our fans kept motivating us and that probably gave us that little extra edge.

"We thought we could score one and maybe break them down at the back and get opportunities.

"That's exactly what happened. It's 2-1 and Manchester is Manchester.

"But we know their defence is weaker without Rio Ferdinand and Mikael Silvestre. They are not going to murder us.

"If we play in the return leg the way we played at home anything can happen."